`No One's Perfect': Gambling Detracted From Jordan's Image

Let the argument begin over which has been Michael Jordan's greatest game, shot or slam dunk.

As for his biggest blunders, take your pick between Slim Bouler and Richard Esquinas.

Jordan's fondness for gambling was no secret and certainly not an issue with an adoring public. But when a check for $57,000 turned up in Bouler's checking account in the winter of 1991, it started a series of events that threatened Jordan's public image.

At first Bouler, a convicted cocaine dealer, tried to claim the money was a loan from Jordan to help Bouler pay for a driving range, and Jordan publicly said the same.

"I'm no Pete Rose," Jordan said in March of 1992. "I can safely say this is not like the Pete Rose matter. I wasn't involved in any point-shaving or betting on basketball games."

The NBA assigned former federal judge Frederick Lacey to investigate. After a 2 1/2-hour meeting in New York between Jordan, his lawyer and several top NBA officials, including Commissioner David Stern, Jordan was absolved of any wrongdoing, though he was warned by the NBA to be careful about whom he associated with.

Jordan also took the time to remind everyone he was not infallible.

"No one's perfect," he said. "Michael Jordan, you (reporters) or anyone else. I think the lesson that comes from this is that when you make a mistake, you've got to stand up and accept it and move on."

Jordan moved on, but not before appearing in a North Carolina courtroom on Oct. 23, 1992 during Bouler's trial on drug and money-laundering charges. At that trial he admitted under oath that he had lost the money to Bouler gambling on the golf course.

By the end of the 1992-93 season, Jordan was hit by another storm of bad publicity that started when he was seen in an Atlantic City casino the night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks, a game the Bulls lost despite Jordan's 36 points.

Jordan claimed he was gone well before midnight, but reports in the media had him there until the wee hours of the morning. Soon afterwards, Jordan stopped talking to the media.

It was during this media blackout that Esquinas, a San Diego entertainment executive, published a book detailing his experiences gambling with Jordan.

The book, "Michael & Me: Our Gambling Addiction . . . My Cry For Help!" claimed Jordan had lost $1.25 million to Esquinas while playing golf during a 10-day period in 1991. Esquinas said Jordan negotiated the debt to $300,000 and that he had received $200,000 at the time the book was published.

Esquinas' readily admitted to a gambling problem and accused Jordan of also being addicted, though Jordan denied it.

"My wife, if I had a problem, would have left me or certainly would have come and said seek help," Jordan said when he broke his media silence on June 9, 1993 in an interview with Ahmad Rashad. "They've never had a problem telling me I had a problem. They never came to me and said, `Michael you have a gambling problem.' My wife never said anything, and she's the chief of finances in our household."

Again, the NBA had Lacey investigate and, three days after the news of Jordan's first retirement had been made public, he was again absolved of any wrongdoing.